Thunder And Lightening
by DarkPotterFantasyGal93
Summary: As notorious Slytherin, Brianna Malfoy enters her sixth year at Hogwarts and is made to be in-charge of the newly opened Duelling-club, she realises that she has an incredible amount of work to do the next two years. What with Quidditch training, James S. Potter being a complete imbecile and not to mention the deadly Tri-wizard tournaments return! Will she crack under pressure?
1. Meet Brianna Malfoy

_**Thunder and Lightning.**_

_**Summary: **__Brianna Malfoy was sorted into Slytherin house six years ago. She did fit the qualities it had to be said, she was cunning, intimidating, wise and had an attitude to go along with it. However, she was unlike Slytherin's in so many ways as she had being brought up to learn to love all four houses and try and make friends with everyone. As Brianna enters her sixth year at Hogwarts and is made to be in-charge of the newly opened Duelling-club__**, **__she realises that she has an incredibly amount of work to do the next two years, what with Quidditch training, Prefect duty and her studies, not to mention James S. Potter being a complete imbecile. Will she crumble under the pressure or will she realise her dream of being Head Girl, an international Quidditch player and Mum of 3 children. Only time will tell…_

_**Useful Info:**__ James Sirius Potter is sixth year, born on 12__th__ July; patronus is a Stag (obviously). Albus Severus Potter is a fourth year, born 4__th__ March; Patronus is a Phoenix. Lily Luna Potter is a third year, born 23__rd__ September; Patronus is Horse (like Ginny). Brianna Malfoy is a sixth year, born 30__th__ January; Patronus is a Panther. Scorpius Malfoy is a Fourth Year, born 11__th__ November; Patronus is a Fox. Rose Weasley is a fourth year, born 2__nd__ September; Patronus is an Otter. Hugo Weasley is a second year, born 23__rd__ December; Patronus is a Dog. Roxanne & Fred Weasley are 7__th__ years, born 1__st__ April (same day as Fred & George): Patronus' are both Dragons. _

_**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters J.K Rowling so brilliantly created, just the ones I made up in this story.**_

_**.,.,..,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,**_

Brianna woke with a start as there was a big clap of thunder outside her window. The heat from the summer day before had meant that the air needed cooling down; it had been raining for hours. Taking in her surrounding, Brianna realised that it was the first of September. Today she would be going back to Hogwarts for her sixth year to start her NEWTS. She lay back down in her king-sized bed, the sheets were a deep purple with silver streamers hanging from the bed post. She lazily glanced at her alarm clock and noted the time, 4:30am. She decided to stay awake, for she was unsure if sleep would even come to her again as the heat from the previous day was still lingering around.

Sitting up once again in her bed, her eyes adjusted to the sight before her. Her trunk was open on the middle of the shag pile in-front of the fireplace, and her clothes strewed themselves about it. She gingerly picked up her wand from the side of her bed and waved it, folding clothes up and them packing themselves nicely. _Shoot_, she thought to herself, _not allowed to do magic yet!_ She placed it back on the bed side and decided to go for a shower.

Her feet dragged along the wooden floorboards of her bedroom before pushing open the door to her en-suite bathroom, and skulking through it and flicked the lights on. The first thing she noticed in the mirror was her hair. It was so out of control that she was unsure of how to go about handling it. Brianna was a tall girl, around 5 foot 9 inches with brilliant brown locks that she'd dip dyed blonde at the end. She wished she had been on the train now, as in no less than 6 hours she would be able to do magic again. This would mean that her hair would look perfect with a simple little charm she learnt in fourth year from Rose Weasley, her younger brother, Scorpius' best friend.

She dragged herself into the shower and washed away all the sleep in her eyes and the tiredness in her body. She shampooed her hair and conditioned before getting out and wrapping herself in a fluffy towel. As she dried herself she heard movement in the hall. It would probably be Scorpius; he was extremely good at getting up early. Brianna wrapped herself in a silk dressing gown before drying her hair and slowly made her way to the kitchen downstairs.

"Morning, Bri" Scorpius' voice chimed from inside the fridge. She had been right, it was Scorpius. His blonde hair was visible at the top of the fridge door; he was easily six foot now. He closed the fridge as his arms were full of Bacon, Eggs and butter for toast.

"Morning, Scorpius. Did you sleep well?" She asked politely as she reached for the sugar in a high cupboard.

"Alright s'pose, I just can't stop thinking about Rose though… I am extremely confused about this letter she sent me" He reached into his pocket and pulled out some parchment and placed it on the table. Brianna placed my bowl onto the table too and filled it with Cereal before pouring on some milk and sugar and sitting down to have breakfast. She glanced over at the letter, It read:

_**Dear Scorpius,**_

_**I decided to finally tell my family that you and I have been friends since first year and surprisingly (not) Dad flipped out. Mum on the other hand said it was good for House unity and that she was happy I had made friends with a Slytherin. But I can't help but wonder whether I'm going to have to face this all my life? When I tell them my best friend is none other than Scorpius Malfoy, I get met with the same looks, the same quizzical looks. **_

_**I think perhaps we should try to make other friends as-well. Not saying I don't want to be your friend anymore Scorpius but I think it's for the best that we don't hang around with each other 24/7.**_

_**Always thinking of you,**_

_**Love Rose x**_

"Oh Scorpius…it'll be alright, Rose has done this before hasn't she, she gets worried about the two of you being friends and then within five minutes she's back to her old self. It'll be fine" Brianna pulled him into a reassuring hug and let him know if he ever needed to talk, she'd be here for him.

"S'pose so" He mumbled. Just then Astoria and Draco Malfoy (Brianna and Scorpius' parents) came into the kitchen, and the rest of the morning went by so quickly that no one really remembered if they had forgotten anything. It seemed like a mad dash to Platform Nine and three Quarters but The Malfoy's ended up arriving in plenty of time.

**.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,**

When the train pulled away, Brianna was still searching for a seat. She arrived in the Prefect carriage after an owl telling her they had a meeting in the front end of the train. She changed into her robes and made her way to the front of the train. She arrived five minutes early to the meeting and sat herself down by fellow Slytherin Prefect, Melanie Bellingham. Melanie was Brianna's best friend in Slytherin, in fact she was pretty much Brianna's only friend. Melanie was just like Brianna, they both don't consider themselves normal Slytherin's, they both promoted house unity and almost enjoyed being in the company of the Weasley's and the Potter's and the Longbottom's.

Melanie had jet black hair which flowed like a waterfall down to her waisted, but she usually tied it up into a bun as it looked better out of her face. She had piercing blue eyes and full lips which framed her heart shaped face. She was a few inches shorter than Brianna and a dress size bigger, but she still managed to attract half the boys in the school. This is because her mother was half-Veela, she was automatically attractive, and that scared everyone. "Morning, Mel"

"Brianna! Hi, I was hoping to see you, I mean of course I would see you because you're a prefect like me. I have some amazing, awesome news to tell you!" Melanie practically fell off her chair in excitement. Brianna was a little taken back by her forwardness and had to keep a distance for a moment. She suffered from Claustrophobia quite badly and hated the fact that all 16 prefects had to fit into one compartment. Luckily the meetings only lasted 10 or so minutes. "I heard Professor Truman talking to professor Vector in the teacher's compartments. I had gone there to collect an essay that Professor Vector had marked over the summer and they were talking about something happening, like a competition or something, and I'm not talking about Quidditch. I mean what could this mean?"

"Hmmm… definitely interesting. We'll have to snoop around and see if we can get any more information. This is funny, I don't remember Dad… OH!" Brianna had a sudden realisation. She had heard her father saying something about it. "Dad works as the head of the Spell Damage ward in St. Mungo's and apparently overheard a conversation between Apple Zabini (Blaise's wife who was working in Auror training) and Kingsley Shacklebolt (the minister), who were at the time bringing in a worker who had accidentally managed to leave a permanent Jelly legs Jinx on himself. They mentioned something about an event taking place at Hogwarts"

"Woah, this is huge" Just as they were getting into the conversation, the rest of the prefects entered the compartment, including none other than selfish, arrogant Potter. The meeting went on for about 20 minutes, Potter making kissy faces at Brianna and generally being that much of a Prat she decided to cast a Bat Bogey Hex on him without uttering a word. The only problem was that Melanie was much better at Bat Bogey Hexes than her and she knew the spell to Un-Bat Bogey him as it were. She let him off the hook and Brianna had to suffer in silence. As there were Sixteen Prefects, they would be split into half, one week half of them would do the castle, the other the grounds, and then they'd switch over. Brianna was partnered with Potter (As she had been last year too) and they were covering the Owlery this week, the second floor the week after and the Quidditch pitch the week after that.

The meeting finished and both the girls made their way to the compartment which had Scorpius, Rose, Lily, Albus and Probably James (much to Brianna's annoyance). Rose and Scorpius were sat next to each other, smiling happily. _Wow that didn't take long for Rose to change her mind_, Brianna thought to herself. Next to her was Lily and Albus, Brianna sat on the other side with Hugo and Melanie, and unfortunately Potter, who was tell Rose about what he'd overheard Harry (his dad talking about). "I'm being serious Rose; this seems like a big year at Hogwarts. And I'm not talking NEWTS or Quidditch or whatever, something is going on this year and it's got nothing to do with either"

"Honestly James, Dad was probably just messing about"

"No James is right" Melanie butted in, and she retold them about what she'd heard Professor Truman and Professor Vector whispering about. Rose mused on this for a while but still decided to think nothing of it. Melanie then brought up what Brianna's Dad had overheard in St. Mungo's and Rose then changed her tone.

"The Minister said something was happening?" Rose asked curiously.

"Yes, and according to Dad, Kingsley didn't seem all too happy about it" Brianna said, not really interested in what they were saying, as her mind was somewhere else. She was thinking about the huge mountain of work she was going to have to do this year if she wanted to play for the Holyhead harpies in the future. She glanced sideway and saw on Potter's robes he had the Quidditch captain badge for Gryffindor. She was envious, although she hadn't really thought about being Slytherin Quidditch captain. "You Quidditch captain again?"

"I haven't had a letter that said otherwise, McGonagall must love me, can't blame her really, most people do" Brianna rolled my eyes and was about to speak but she was interrupted by Albus.

"James you're such a prick"

**,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.**

Brianna, Melanie, James and Elliot Longbottom (Neville's son) all got into a carriage and made their way to the castle. It still looked as spectacular as Brianna expected and she enjoyed the view just as much as any other time. They passed by the lake where they saw The Giant Squid give a lazy waved of his tentacle before rescuing a first year who had fallen into the lake off of his boat in the distance. Brianna was annoyed about having to take a carriage with James (all because Melinda fancies, Elliot and wants to be with him every minute of every day) but he, for once, didn't say anything to annoy her… well, until they got off the carriage that was. "We've got a few minutes before the ceremony if you fancy a quickie?"

"James, I'd rather snog a Grindylow" Brianna spat, huffing past and walking through the great hall to take a seat at the Slytherin table. She received glares from a few of them, as she doesn't see eye-to-eye with most of them. Others she was civil with, but she only really got on with Melanie in the house, and Amelia Goyle, who wasn't as bad as everyone made out to be. Brianna and Melanie sat next to each other as they noticed two extra tables in the middle. No wonder it was a bit cramped in here.

"Welcome student, we shall now do the sorting ceremony!" McGonagall announced. A line of frightened looking first years made their way to the front of the hall. Some tripped up over their robes while others looked like they were going to puke. Brianna sniggered at them; she always found it funny when first years made their way through the hall. "When I call your name, you will come forth and I will place the sorting hat on your head. Bella Adams!"

A short and stumpy blonde girl with pigtails made her way up to the stool and sat on it, her bottom hanging over the edges. The sorting hat was placed on her head and in almost an instance the hat sorted her. "Hufflepuff". Two twins, Leah and Parina were sorted into Ravenclaw, a tallish, ginger haired boy was placed into Gryffindor and a smarmy looking toe rag was placed in our house, Slytherin. The sorting lasted for another five or six minutes and Slytherin had gained eleven new members, Gryffindor nine, Hufflepuff thirteen and Ravenclaw Ten. The last person to be sorted was a skinny brown haired girl called Marissa Wood (daughter of famous Quidditch player Oliver Wood) who was put into Gryffindor.

McGonagall stepped up to the podium then and began her usual speech. "Welcome to new students, and welcome to returning ones, I trust that you are all eager to learn and start the year off well, given last year's OWL students were the best since 1996. I have some announcements regarding extra-curricular activities. The school has decided to start up the duelling club and would like to announce that we've decided to assign each house a Captain of the duelling club. Firstly, the Captain of Gryffindor Duelling club, will be Roxanne Weasley"

There was a round of applause as Roxanne nearly fell off her chair and stumble her way up to the front to accept a badge. She blushed incredibly read. "The Captain of Ravenclaw duelling club, Thomas Wood! Yes, well done Thomas, there is your badge. The Captain of Hufflepuff duelling club, Jeremy Smith"

Jeremy was the son of famous novelist Zacharias Smith, who from what Brianna had heard was a bit of a prick. This came as no surprise to Brianna as Jeremy was a bit of a prick too, he'd tried to snog Brianna at last year's Halloween ball. She'd slapped it so hard her hand was printed on his face for about a week. "And the Slytherin duelling club captain will be, Brianna Malfoy"

_No way!_ Brianna thought as she blushed a deep crimson colour, and stumbled about herself. She walked up to the front, the Potter's, Weasley's and Longbottom's were cheering her, along with most people apart from the odd Slytherin and Gryffindor. She received a badge saying 'Duelling Club Captain' and went to sit back down again. Melanie was clapping furiously and patted Brianna on the back as she got into her seat again. McGonagall continued with her speech.

"Yes well done to all. I would like to finish off this part of the speech by announcing that the Quidditch cup will not be taking place this year, due to another event taking its place" there was furious booing from Slytherin and Gryffindor while Hufflepuff looked about disinterested as Brianna felt on the train this morning. James Potter, Brianna noticed, was furious. He looked as though a vein in his head might pop. "That is quite enough! We'll get onto that in a moment. I would like to remind you all that the forbidden forest is out of bound to everyone, unless they have detention with Professor Hagrid. And I need to stress that while the Giant Squid is friendly and won't harm you, please do not fall in the lake"

The said child who fell in the lake made a sort of wheezing noise, Brianna noticed he'd being put into Hufflepuff. McGonagall continued, Brianna thought she'd never shut up.

"A quick note about the change in staff, Professor Flitwick has decided to retire, after his wife has being admitted to St. Mungo's with illness, we wish Professor Flitwick all the luck in the world, and hope his wife has a speedy recover. Taking his place as Charms professor will be Theodore Lupin" There was a polite applause from most people except the Potter's and Weasley's who were all whooping furiously.

"As I said earlier, a special event is taking place at Hogwarts this year, but before I tell you what, I'd like to welcome our Friends from across the channel, the wonderful ladies of Beauxbatons and our friends from the north, the Durmstrang School" Just then, a line of pretty girls in blue uniforms gracefully entered the room followed by a bunch of rather dashing looking men in furry hats and long coats. They took their places at the two spare tables in the middle of the hall. There was clapping and cheering as the head teacher's from the other schools waved to everyone and greeted McGonagall at the front.

Just then, Filch appeared with a large object with was placed at the front of the hall. A smaller object was place in-front of it. "A legendary event, the Triwizard Tournament! Each Wizard or Witch selected will compete in a series of challenges; however they're not for the faint hearted! No student under the age of 16 must compete and don't even think about trying to trick me it will not work! Each champion will be selected from this… the Goblet of Fire!"

There was a bright light and a wave of McGonagall's wand as the large object turned itself into a goblet. It light up blue and flames shot up towards the bewitched ceiling. "If you wish to participate in the tournament, you have until Halloween to put your name forward, Good luck! Now, why not welcome our newest arrivals with the welcome feast! Eat up!"

Then, the food appeared and Brianna's stomach was grateful. "Melanie that must be what you overheard professor Vector about! They surely can't think about holding this again? Don't they remember what happened last time? I've read about it in _A history Of Magic_, James' dad won and that boy died!"

"What's the matter, Brianna? Scared of it? Too scared to enter?" Jonah Flint snarled from down the table.

"Shove off, Flint before I turn you into Ferret!" Brianna snapped back just as evilly. Everyone was chatting about what had just being announced. Fred and Roxanne were trying to contain their excitement by setting of stink bombs at the first years. James was arguing with rose about something and Melanie and Brianna were just dumbfounded that people would be enjoying this.

**.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.**

The Slytherin common room was its usual nasty place, people throwing curses at each other, challenging to duels, talking smack about teachers, students and other pathetic stuff. Melanie and Brianna just slide by the drama and headed to the dormitory. Amelia was in there along with Josephine Zabini (she was okay unless you got on her bad side) and Dorothy Parkinson, who despised all four of them in the dorm and preferred to sleep in the common room if she could help it. Brianna and Melanie instantly flopped on their beds and started to discuss the events which had taken place.

"Does the board of governors realise how dangerous this is? Someone died the last time!" Melanie harped as Amelia chortled at her and Josephine snarled. Brianna just couldn't believe they'd even consider a tournament like this for the school. "All for some cup and 1000 galleons!"

"What about Eternal glory? Not many people can say they're a triwizard champion!" Amelia butted in the conversation.

"I think I'd rather snog a Grindylow than compete" Brianna huffed, as she changed into her pyjamas.

"That's the second time you've used that phrase today, I'm starting to think you wouldn't mind snogging a Grindylow" Melanie cackled.

"The first time being?" Josephine asked interest.

"Potter asked her for a quickie" Melanie cackled again. Brianna shot a stern glare at her and casted a quick tickling charm on her. "Oh sod off you cow, that tickles!"

"James Potter is one fit lad" Brianna heard Josephine say but she was a bit preoccupied to be thinking of Potter. Brianna replayed the events of the great hall over in her mind. There was to be a triwizard tournament in which three champions will be selected to compete in a series of magical challenges. It'll be dangerous, it could possibly cause death, but the school has decided to hold it anyway. She had been made the Slytherin duelling club Captain and had to come up with a series of plans to help the club. It was possibly the maddest day of her life. She also had her NEWTs this year; she'd taken on Potions, Charms, DADA, Transfiguration, Herbology, Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures and Astronomy. It was a lot but Brianna didn't want to drop anything but History of Magic and Arithmancy. Divination she hadn't taken in the third year, she'd chosen Ancient Runes. She had to practice her Quidditch, even though the cup wasn't being held this year it was obviously something to keep doing so she didn't lose her touch.

"Well. All this chatter has worn me out, I'm going to bed, Night Melanie" Brianna said, but she wasn't about to do anything but sleep. Her mind was swirling, spinning at the thought of hosting a duelling club. She had spells, charms, enchantments all going through her mind. Rest assured, it was going to be an eventful couple of weeks.

Hell,

_Well this is going to be an interesting year_.

**,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.**

_Thanks for reading the first chapter, let me know what you guys think! And what do you think the big change at Hogwarts is going to be this year? _

_**Sneak Peek:**__ Lessons!_

_Shannon x_


	2. Putting Up With Potter

_**Thunder and Lightning.**_

_**Summary: **__Brianna Malfoy was sorted into Slytherin house six years ago. She did fit the qualities it had to be said, she was cunning, intimidating, wise and had an attitude to go along with it. However, she was unlike Slytherin's in so many ways as she had being brought up to learn to love all four houses and try and make friends with everyone. As Brianna enters her sixth year at Hogwarts and is made to be in-charge of the newly opened Duelling-club__**, **__she realises that she has an incredibly amount of work to do the next two years, what with Quidditch training, Prefect duty and her studies, James S. Potter being a complete imbecile. Not to mention the deadly tri-wizard tournament has returned! Will she crumble under the pressure or will she realise her dream of being Head Girl, an international Quidditch player and Mum of 3 children. Only time will tell…_

_**Useful Info:**__ James Sirius Potter is sixth year, born on 12th July; patronus is a Stag (obviously). Albus Severus Potter is a fourth year, born 4th March; Patronus is a Phoenix. Lily Luna Potter is a third year, born 23rd September; Patronus is Horse (like Ginny). Brianna Malfoy is a sixth year, born 30th January; Patronus is a Panther. Scorpius Malfoy is a Fourth Year, born 11th November; Patronus is a Fox. Rose Weasley is a fourth year, born 2nd September; Patronus is an Otter. Hugo Weasley is a second year, born 23rd December; Patronus is a Dog. Roxanne & Fred Weasley are 7th years, born 1st April (same day as Fred & George): Patronus' are both Dragons._

_**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters J.K Rowling so brilliantly created, just the ones I made up in this story.**_

_**.,.,..,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,**_

The following day, the entire school was still animated about the Triwizard Tournament. Brianna couldn't escape the talk, no matter where she went. Fred and Roxanne had been discussing it at the breakfast table (must to the dismay of Rose Weasley as it was indeed her birthday, Brianna had bought her the latest book from one of Rose's favourite teen series, 'Boys, Potions and breakups'. She'd received a letter from her parents, saying happy birthday with a box of chocolate fudge, some new books and a necklace which Hermione's mother gave to her. James Potter, decided to be a prick (like usual) and set off a Weasley wizard wheezes' firework at the table, singing Brianna, Melanie and Lily's hair a bit. Brianna jinxed him and made his own hair turn luminous Pink. James wasn't fussed, he was too animated to discuss anything other than the tournament or Rose's birthday.

"Party in Gryffindor common room this Saturday, it's for Rose's birthday. Brianna and Melanie can patronus me when they're on their way up and we'll let them in" James was discussing plans with Fred who was nodding in sync.

"We won't because I can't do a patronus" Brianna muttered to herself, annoyed.

"Who else is invited from the other houses, just those two?" Fred asked intrigued.

"Naah, Scorpius as well, Rose will never forgive us if he doesn't get invited" James laughed. Brianna overheard parts of the rest of the conversation… She was pretty sure 'firewhisky' was mentioned. Breakfast went by as quick as it came and they were off to the first lessons of the day. Brianna had Ancient Runes with Professor Dores while Melanie had Arithmancy with Professor Vector. Ancient Runes was one of Brianna's favourite lessons, but there was a downside to it. It was the lesson she shared with James, and only James.

"Can I walk with you?" Potter asked Brianna, who snarled in return, but eventually said yes. "Can I ask you why you don't like me?"

"Because you're an arrogant prick who cares about nothing apart from his hair and shagging girls" Brianna spoke lazily as she set her bag down by an empty couple of seats. She knew that she was going to have to sit near James for this one lesson but she has managed it before.

Professor Dores arrived on time and the lesson began. Brianna got out her copy of Spellman's Sillabry and began translating some runes they had been given. James was furiously writing down notes but every now and then he'd stop to interrupt Brianna and show her a rude drawing he'd done or to show her his abs. Neither thing did she care about.

Brianna finished the translation before anyone else, only to be quickly followed by James. The two of them were allowed to leave the class early and headed to Defence against the Dark Arts, as all the Gryffindor's and Slytherin's shared that class. James was making swirly patterns with his wand as they both walked along in silence. "Do you seriously have to be so irritating? Seriously, Potter, breathe louder I don't think the owls heard you in the Owlery!"

"Wow someone is in a testy mood today" James noted, purposefully pushing Brianna's buttons.

"Don't even think about fucking with me James! I am not in the mood today!" Brianna's hand went straight to her mouth. She had broken her one rule. No matter how badly Potter is annoying you, do not swear at him. It gives him satisfaction; he knows he is getting under her skin. "Just… just leave me alone okay?"

"Honestly, Brianna. I think a shag might cheer you up a bit, I've got some time if you're free?" That did it, she reached for her wand and quick than you could say 'Quidditch' she flung a hex at him. He managed to dodge it but he certainly shut up after that. They reached the third floor and saw that Melanie and Elliot were already there. Brianna's face showed that they'd been arguing.

"Honestly you two, can't you just get along for one lesson?" Melanie smiled. Elliot just rolled his eyes. Brianna muttered something along the lines of 'if he wasn't such a prick'. James just smiled meekly and sat down next to Elliot in the lesson.

**,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.**

"Welcome to Defence Against the dark arts, I'm your Professor for the year. It's so nice to finally meet my Newt students, I had first years this morning and one of them puked in my Grindylow tank after I tried to teach them Expelliarmus" Our defence teacher, Professor Vexen spoke. "I know you were unaware that you were having anyone other than Professor Tulip. I was not at the feast last night, but I was called in last minute by McGonagall as Professor Tulip had an unfortunate incident with a Mountain Troll yesterday morning"

"That's such a shame… she was a nice teacher" Lily Abbott-Smith, the Hufflepuff spoke. Brianna just cackled wickedly at the dumb nature of the Hufflepuff girl. "Sorry, is something funny, Malfoy?" The girl tried to stand up for herself.

"Yeah, your idea of a good teacher" Brianna replied. "Professor Vexen I was wondering if you've ever had any close encounters with the Dark Arts before?"

"Why quite a few times my dear. I was here as a fourth-year Ravenclaw when the battle of Hogwarts took place! Stunned a death-eater right in the head, managed to evade another two before they were devoured by giant spiders… frightening times they were. But alas, learning Defence against the Dark Arts is not all about fighting death eaters… it's about knowing the different creatures and the perfect counter-curse or curses to give you time to escape a situation like that! This is why we'll be having real hands on experience this year with DADA. With the Tri-Wizard tournament coming up, there is no better time than to prepare you for what is coming ahead"

"Professor, were you here for the last tri-ward tournament?" Melanie asked. The class leaned forward with intent on listening to what the teacher had to say. James just rolled his eyes and leant back… he'd heard it all before from his father no doubt.

"I was in my first year the year there was four champions. The entire school had piled into the Great Hall on All Hallows Eve and had grouped up with the Beauxbatons School and The Durmstrang's for what was to be the biggest night of our school year so far. Of course, there were four champions instead of the usual three, but the excitement was still there" Professor Vexen wiped his brow and rolled his sleeves up. There was a little fluttering of hearts at the back as a few girls from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff giggled. "Well enough about past events, this lesson is just going to be a bit of general Defence against the Dart Arts knowledge. Can everyone put their bags to the side; put away your quills and parchments? When you're done just stand to one side"

"This has got to be better than Arithmancy with Professor Vector… she gave us a test straight off to see what we remembered!" Melanie huffed as everyone moved their bags around. Brianna just smiled awkwardly. James was on the other side of the room making repulsive faces at her. She mimed vomiting and earned herself a large sigh from Melanie. "Honestly, why don't you two just get off? You'd end up realising you don't actually hate each other you know"

"I'd rather-"

"You'd rather snog a Grindylow, yes I get it!" Brianna was in a grump with Melanie now, and they both knew she wouldn't be speaking to her for the rest of the day. Professor Vexen moved the chairs and tables and got everyone to just stand in one huge circle.

"Alright guys let's see… I'm just going to bring my friend out here. I wanna see what you can do first. Defence is all about playing to your strength!" He brought out a rather large mechanical looking human which he enchanted to move about. "Completely harmless! Won't move within 4 feet of you all! Let's see what we've got then!"

By the end of the double lesson, the whole class was having a whale of a time. Brianna had managed to cast a perfect Reducto on the mechanical object, Melanie had cast a Bat Bogey Hex while James and Elliot had both cast Levicorpus charms on it. Everyone had produced some quality magic and the Professor was very impressed with what had occurred. Professor Vexen had cast the most perfect stupefy Brianna had ever seen besides from James' dad. It was non-verbal and without much effort. He earned a round of applause for which he bowed in return.

"Homework!" He said, causing everyone to grown. "Oh don't worry, it's not too much! I just want 6 inches, that's all. Your homework is to write down everything you know, feel and think of about the spell you did best on the Mechanical object. I want to know how you prepare yourselves for the spell, how your wand flourishes and how naturally the spell comes to you. It's more of a getting to know you better! I'll be able to use this information and we can transform it to other spells"

"When do you want this by, sir?"

"Next lesson please! Is that Wednesday?" He asked. He pulled up a timetable and gave a thumb up. They were all dismissed five minutes before the bell rang which meant it was time for lunch.

Lunchtime brought about a different mood than the one at the feast the night earlier. It was a lot more lively and vibrant than Brianna remembered as Gryffindor and Slytherin sixth years were relaying Professor Vexen's lesson to anyone who would listen. The stories he had told everyone and his excellent wand work was spreading like wildfire, not to mention almost all the girls in that class had got the hots for him. He'd got the brown floppy hair and bright blue eyes that made all the girls happy. Brianna couldn't care less about him, although she did admit his teaching method seemed okay.

"Is this Daily Prophet going spare?" Brianna asked her Slytherin table when she got to the table made herself some food. When she got no reply, she assumed it was free for her to read. She picked it up and immediately saw the headline. '_HOGWARTS GONE MAD?_' it read. She continued with the article itself.

_There was outrage last night from parents of students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as it was announced that the school will be once again holding the Triwizard Tournament. The ladies of Beauxbatons Academy for Witches and Durmstrang School have also joined the famous wizarding school for the festivities. When asked on their opinion, one parent said 'it's outrageous! Or do they not remember when that poor Diggory boy got killed?' No word on the Minister of Magic's view on proceedings but we have sources close to the minister which said he's fully backed the decision. More on page 7._

"Well that's totally rubbish for one thing! Dad said the Minister was not happy at all that the event was taking place!" Brianna said as she stuffed a ham sandwich in her mouth. Melanie, who was currently enjoying a pork and apple sauce sandwich, just looked up from her food with a look that suggested she hadn't been paying attention. Brianna just rolled her eyes and went back to the newspaper. There was another story that caught her eye.

_Myron Wagtail (left), Lead singer of the band Weird sisters, found dead in family home in Ottery Saint. Catchpole. A Doxy infestation was found in the house too, no word on whether the two things are yet linked. _

"Here Melanie, the lead singer or the Weird sister's has died!" Brianna said in shock. Melanie just nodded as if she already had heard that news. "Are you going to say anything coherent today or are you just going to blabber like the idiot you are?"

"Oh shove off, Brianna. It's that time of the month I need food and sleep!"

"And Elliot Longbottom" Brianna guffaws.

"Go and eat a dragon dong, Brianna. Why are you so obsessed with me and Elliot?" She blinks awkwardly and her cheeks flush.

"Me? Obsessed with you and Elliot? Oh please, you spent most of the Welcome feast glancing at him and wishing to get into his pants. Don't try and push this on me" Brianna huffed out of her seat and marched to Care of Magical Creatures early.

**.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.**

The rest of the week went by in such a flash that Brianna wasn't even sure that it was Friday Afternoon. The Durmstrang School had put on a performance on the Wednesday evening which involved fire and burnt down part of the entrance courtyard, Brianna and Melanie thought Professor McGonagall was going to have a complete breakdown. The Beauxbatons Ladies had been in trouble several times for luring poor lads into various cupboards and empty classrooms. That was the trouble of them being part Veela, Melanie should know. In all their lessons, it was compulsory too start learning non-verbal magic and by the end of year seven, even the smallest spells wandless.

In transfigurations they were learning to do small spells they'd learnt in first year like switching spells non-verbally. Melanie and Brianna had managed to switch a matchstick to a needle, and a rather small branch into a drumstick. Brianna thought her brain was going to melt by the time they'd finished, so she was glad it was potions next. They were learning to brew a draught of living death, Armortenia and Poly juice potion by the end of the first term. In Herbology they were learning how to tame large Venomous Tentacular, in DADA they have been learning the Patronus' Charm (Brianna had failed to make one yet but James had been able to conjure a stag on first go, turns out he'd been able to do them since he was thirteen) and in charms they'd been learning Aguamenti. It was just a non-stop flow of homework, spells, and accidents (Elliot had burned a whole in the bottom of his cauldron).

As it was a double free period, Madam Hooch was holding a Quidditch practice session for beginners and experts alike. With the Triwizard tournament, she felt it was right that everyone brushed up on their flying skills in case of needing them. "Did you hear that Roxanne and Fred are going to put their names in?"

"I heard James Potter was"

"Really? I bet he would win… son of Harry and all that"

"Oh come on, have you seen who is entering for Durmstrang? Balfor Krum! He'll win!"

"Yeah because his uncle was so brilliant in it last time out!"

Brianna was sick of all the talk of Triwizard this and that. She had made her feeling clear to McGonagall too, who was simply having none of her rubbish. Brianna was in a world of her own when a quaffle flew at her and hit her on the arm. "Oi! Watch it- oh it's you"

"Well hello to you too" James Potter. The knife in Brianna's existence. God he was annoying… all because she made his cousin's hair fall out (but to be fair, Fred did turn all her stuff into red and gold Gryffindor colours). "Are you entering the tournament then?"

"No, I'd rather befriend a dragon" She said in a rather large sigh. "I don't agree with it anyway. Some girls over there suggested you are entering though"

"I might do, but I'm not sure I'd want to embarrass any of the other contestants. I'd win for sure" James gave a rather lop-sided grin that set Brianna's teeth on edge.

"Why? Because your dad is the famous Harry Potter" Brianna spat.

"No… because I'm good at DADA. And hey, if we're going by your logic, does that mean you'll be an obstacle to get by. You know, what with your dad been a dirty bleeding rotter and all" That was it. No one and Brianna meant NO ONE, talks about her dad in that way. She did the only thing she thought she could do. She smacked him square in the face. "MERLIN'S BEARD YOU UTTER BITCH, YOU'VE BROKE MY BLEEDING NOSE!"

"BLOODY SERVES YOU RIGHT FOR TALKING SHIT ABOUT MY DAD"

"I was only having a bloody joke with you, Malfoy. Jesus can't you lighten up for once!" His nose started bleeding and we'd gathered quite a crowd. He held the bridge of his nose while I tried to whack him again with the quaffle he'd just thrown at me.

"MISS. MALFOY THAT IS QUITE ENOUGH" Madam Hooch had come over to separate the crowds but everyone wasn't budging. Elliot had somehow appeared and was holding me back from James. I was shouting expletives at James while he just looked sheepish. Everyone from third year and under, went red in the face as I turned the air blue. "10 points from Slytherin for the foul language, another 10 for James broken nose. Now will somebody please tell me what's going on?"

"James Sirius Potter is an arsehole, that's what! He bloody insulted my dad. No one insults my dad without seeing to me" She tried to swot at him again but another teacher had turned up now. Brianna had to result in not getting to beat Potter up like she wanted too.

"Hey, in my defence you started it!"

"If you weren't such a cocky git in the first place I'd be on a broomstick approximately a thousand miles away from you! Instead I had to punch you in the nose and now I'm all angsty up. I hope your face is permanently damaged!" Brianna tried to wriggle free as Potter sticks his finger up at her. Madam Hooch puts a binding spell on her, just to stop her from moving. "Madam Hooch it's not fair!"

"When you've learned to control your anger Miss. Malfoy, I might consider letting you go. And Mr. Potter, 10 points from Gryffindor for provocation. I shall be writing to your families and you will both receive detention tonight"

_Great_, Brianna thought.

**,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,**

Detention was about as interesting as a blast-ended skrewt… in other words, not. Brianna was convinced she was going to fall asleep at one point, but considering James already had she'd leave it for him to get into trouble. They were told to clean up the library and sort out some old books which had no longer got a home due to parts of the library being re-vamped. "_Mermaids & other water myths by DeLuca Pop_. This should be in the mythical creatures section with '_Fishing for Merpeople_' and '_Grouping with Grindylows_'. James can you put them there… James? POTTER!"

"W-whaa?" James woke up in a sudden fit of panic at the book Brianna had just thrown at him.

"Put that book in the mythical creatures section" she replied again. "You know if you actually helped we'd get out of here quicker"

"Quit your moaning, Bri" He mumbled. Brianna just sent a death glare. "Okay fine I'll help"

"Good, now where do you think '_Roaring fun with Redcaps_' should go? Naturally it would be with the Redcap books in any sane person's library but the Hogwarts library is basically a jumble shop" She flung a copy of '_Amazing Arithmancy by Ludo Morth'_ to one side and picked up a copy of '_101 failsafe ways to charm witches'. _"Who on earth is renting this from the library?"ed

"Hey – that's my book!" James snatched the copy out of her hand and shoved it in his bag. Brianna stared at him for a moment before bursting into laughter. "Hey! Stop laughing! That was my 16th birthday present from Fred! He swears by it"

"You don't need any help with the ladies James. They follow you like brain-dead lambs around school" Brianna smirked to herself. She was going to use this as leverage one day. "You could walk into the Gryffindor common room, whistle and about 6 or 7 would come running"

"You wouldn't" James said in all seriousness.

"That's because I have a brain – also, I'm Slytherin. You wouldn't get near the common room" Brianna stared at James as he awkwardly gave a sheepish grin in her direction. "Anyways, I can't stand the very hairs on your head Potter so you've got no chance"

"Brianna – No offence, but you ain't exactly girlfriend material anyways" He said, throwing a copy of '_Famous Witches of the 18__th__ Century'_ into the pile for the notable figures section. "People are so flipping scared to go near you and ask you out they're worried you'll hex them into next week. Look what happened to Marcus Jones"

"That arse had it coming. He kept inappropriately touching me up!" Brianna spat, slamming a book on the table hard. James jumped about three feet in the air. "I could help it if the whole school is scared of me, their problem not mine"

"I reckon underneath it all, you're just a scaredy-cat!" He was pushing Brianna now and she was gonna blow up in a moment.

"I am not a scaredy-cat. I'm not scared of anything, especially not puny little insect men who don't have the balls to ask me out on a date" Brianna snarled. She swot him with a big book but he manages to take it off of her.

"Prove you're not a scaredy-cat then" He said as if a challenge was about to be laid out. "Enter the Triwizard tournament"

"No – I do not have anything to prove to you" Brianna sat back at the large pile of books and tried to ignore him. "And anyway if you're so obsessed with this tournament then you enter it!"

"Fine, I will… if you will" He adds at the end. The bile rose in her throat as he sat there cockily. Fine, if he wanted to play then she'd play.

"Okay then. Let's make an unbreakable vow. We both promise to put our names into the goblet of fire before the Halloween feast on the 31st of October" Brianna says, daring him, seeing if he would bite the challenge. He thought about it for a moment…

"Deal"

**.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.**

_Thanks for reading the chapter! Really hoped you enjoyed it, this was a little more of a filler chapter because it's getting us to bigger events. _

_**Sneak Peek:**__ Roxanne and Brianna decide to hold a duel club for Slytherin and Gryffindor together, and it's Rose's birthday party!_

_Shannon x_


	3. Duelling And Drinking

**_Thunder and Lightning._**

**_Summary:_**_Brianna Malfoy was sorted into Slytherin house six years ago. She did fit the qualities it had to be said, she was cunning, intimidating, wise and had and attitude to go along with it. However, she was unlike Slytherin's in so many ways as she had being brought up to learn to love all four houses and try and make friends with everyone. As Brianna enters her sixth year at Hogwarts and is made to be in-charge of the newly opened Duelling-club_**_,_**_she realises that she has an incredibly amount of work to do the next two years, what with Quidditch training, Prefect duty and her studies, not to mention James S. Potter being a complete imbecile. Will she crumble under the pressure or will she realise her dream of being Head Girl, an international Quidditch player and Mum of 3 children. Only time will tell…_

**_Useful Info:_**_James Sirius Potter is sixth year, born on 12th __July; patronus is a Stag (obviously). Albus Severus Potter is a fourth year, born 4th __March; Patronus is a Phoenix. Lily Luna Potter is a third year, born 23rd September; Patronus is Horse (like Ginny). Brianna Malfoy is a sixth year, born 30th __January; Patronus is a Panther. Scorpius Malfoy is a Fourth Year, born 11th __November; Patronus is a Fox. Rose Weasley is a fourth year, born 2nd __September; Patronus is an Otter. Hugo Weasley is a second year, born 23rd __December; Patronus is a Dog. Roxanne & Fred Weasley are 7th__years, born 1st __April (same day as Fred & George): Patronus' are both Dragons._

**_Disclaimer: I don't own the characters J.K Rowling so brilliantly created, just the ones I made up in this story._**

**_.,.,..,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,_**

"YOU DID WHAT?" Melanie gawked at Brianna as she got dressed in some jeans and a band t-shirt (a Weird Sister's one in honour of Myron's death!). She's just informed her of her deal with James. They'd done the unbreakable vow right then and there in the library and both knew that they had to put their name into the goblet. It was probably a bit over the top to be honest but Brianna thought that she must never let Potter beat her in any way and it seemed reasonable at the time. "YOU MADE A WHAT WITH WHO?"

"I made an unbreakable vow with James Potter. Honestly he was being such an arse and he wouldn't leave me alone so I said fine if you think I'm a wuss let's make the unbreakable vow and well, he did" Brianna shoved her converses on last minute and put a little bag over her shoulder. It had parchment, her wand and one of her DADA books from the library. Today was Saturday and it was Brianna's first try at hosting the Slytherin Duelling club. She made her way to breakfast with Melanie rabbiting in her earhole about the most stupid decision she's ever made or something like that. "Melanie, be realistic. The most stupid mistake I've ever made was dating Jason Zabini, Josephine's brother"

"Oh please, Jason Zabini looks like Prince Henry of Wales right about now… that's how stupid this is!" She didn't shut up all the way down to the great hall. Brianna got there and saw a crowd around the Goblet; they were clapping a Durmstrang student who'd just put his name in. "Don't you fucking dare put your name in there!"

"Oh so you'd rather I died then?" Brianna snapped accusingly. They both got to the Slytherin table where Jonah Flint was high-fiving people as he sat down. He'd obviously just put his name in. "Wow Jonah, you actually managed to put your name in the goblet… the hard part is truly over"

"Like you would ever put your name in" Jonah cackled. "You're too much of a wuss"

"Really?" Brianna asked. She took a piece of paper out of her bag, wrote her own name on it. She saw James arrive with a piece of paper in his hand and a crowd of angry looking Weasleys and Potters who were all probably agreeing with Melani . She stormed over to the Goblet, charged past a load of people who all moved out of the way for her. She put the piece of paper in and the flames accepted it. There was stunned silence, especially from the Slytherin table. James then followed and put his name in the Goblet. There, it was done and dusted. Brianna turned to Jonah with a scary glare. "There Flint… Got a problem?"

"You wouldn't last five minutes in the Tournament!" He snarled back. Brianna just showed a middle finger and just scoffed in disgust at him and sat down next to Melanie who had her head in her hands. She looked like she was going to hex Brianna into next week.

"Quit your fucking moaning, Melanie!" Brianna snapped as she grabbed a handful of toast and shoved it on her plate. She buttered and munched all the while Melanie was harping on.

"Do you have any idea how serious this is? The Goblet is an incredibly powerful magical object; it's going to recognise an unbreakable vow cast upon you… what on earth happens if your name or Potter's name gets pulled out of the Goblet. What then huh?" She snapped. It wasn't often Melanie's face was anything but pure beauty, but she was enraged at the moment. He normally enticing Veela face was twisted and warped by her best friend's stupid decision. "I just can't believe you'd be so stupid!"

"Keep your voice down please! I don't want the whole school knowing I even spoke to Potter let alone made a deal with him. Come to think of it… it's not turned out to be as exciting as I thought it would. I was hoping Potter would forget and end up dying… that would have been a nice way to celebrate Halloween" Brianna just ended up shrugging her shoulders and carried on munching the toast down. She was tapped on the shoulder. She turned to see Roxanne Weasley, who had a rather stern but approachable look on her face. "Can I help you, Weasley?"

"Professor McGonagall has asked me to ask you how long you plan on using the Great hall for Slytherin's Duelling club today; she's seen you've booked it for 9" She said, her eyes shifting about a little bit. "I want Gryffindor to have one today but it depends how long you've got the hall for"

"Well I've got it until lunchtime so unless you want to do a joint Duelling club you'll have to grin and bear it" Brianna replied in a non-committed tone. She just drunk her orange juice and pretended Roxanne wasn't there.

She liked all the Weasley's and Potters yet hated them all at the same time; except for perhaps Rose Weasley and for good enough reason. James and his cousin Fred were the big pranksters of the school… not to mention James was a womanizer too. In third year they'd managed to change all of Brianna's green and silver clothes to Red and Gold and they didn't change back for a week. Roxanne had always had beef with Brianna after Brianna tried it on with Roxanne's ex-boyfriend, Zacharias Smith Jr (the seventh-year Ravenclaw) and they'd always glared at each other whenever they walked past each other or had classes with each together. Albus Potter, the fourth year who had stunned Scorpius so badly he was in hospital wing for a week and Louis Weasley (fifth year) who had laughed at the incident (all because Scorpius was friends with Rose) were also on Brianna's hate list. Lily-Luna Potter and Hugo Weasley hadn't done enough to piss Brianna off but she was certainly weary of them as they both like to plot against their older brothers and sisters.

Saying all this, she didn't mind being in their company whatsoever… it was much better than being in the company of Jonah Flint or Dorothy Parkinson. She just preferred to stay away from them all if she could help it. But it was not as if she didn't get on with them, they shared a carriage here for instance. But it was either that or share with Flint.

Roxanne mused Brianna unintended proposition before replying. "That isn't a bad idea actually. I know I'm quite nervous about being captain of my first Duelling club… I had only thought about a couple of spells to do but perhaps you could help me… I mean we could help each other. Perhaps do a joint Slytherin and Gryffindor duelling club. It'd promote house unity certainly"

"Great" Brianna said sarcastically. It was then Professor McGonagall approached. This is not what I need right now, Brianna thought to herself. Melanie just snickered. Brianna didn't say anything but she could tell by the expression on Melanie's face that she was thinking about Karma. Was it karma for making an unbreakable vow? Pfft, unlikely.

"Miss. Malfoy, I trust Miss. Weasley has spoken to you" McGonagall said, her pointy hat skewed at an angle and her robes as emerald green as ever.

"Oh yes Professor McGonagall! Brianna had a great idea; we're going to do a joint duelling club for Gryffindor and Slytherin… you know, to promote house unity!" Roxanne sniggered as she could clearly tell Brianna wasn't up for a joint Duelling club. McGonagall however, didn't detect this and congratulated Brianna on a wonderful idea. She nodded at them both and retreated to the Teacher's table to speak to Professor Lupin. "See you here in an hour, Malfoy"

Great, just great.

**.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,**

As the great halls tables were pushed to the side, around two hundred Gryffindor and Slytherin students filed into the great hall for the joint Duelling club. The streamers usually in the colours of all four houses were now dazzling in bright flashes of green and red and silver and gold. There were murmurs and excited whispers as Brianna took her place on the duelling stage next to Roxanne. Roxanne spoke then. "Okay so bags at the side, wands out please"

"Flint, stop talking and pay attention please" Brianna said as she hears sniggers from the back of the hall near the entrance. "Okay welcome to the Gryffindor and Slytherin joint duelling club… the aim of today is to promote house unity apparently. Now as Roxanne and I are both captains we have been able to grant house points to those who earn it and detentions to those who cheek either of us. If you have a problem with that, go see McGonagall"

"Yes thank you, Malfoy" Roxanne sighed, taking over. "As previously said you are here not to throttle each other's throat over which house is better; but to learn to duel in a safe environment. We're going to start with a simple display between Brianna and myself so please stand back and watch"

"You heard her! Move back!" The crowd move back as the lights dim and the Duelling stage lights up itself. There is a hush mutter as a few of the older students yawn impatiently while the younger students mouths hang open in anticipation. "Duelling etiquette: face your opponent and bow nice and low" Brianna says, curtseying nicely towards Roxanne. "Get your wand ready and turn to walk to either end of the duelling stage"

"Then prepare yourself in a stance which is comfortable and hold your wand firmly but not too stiffly" There was a snicker from James Potter and Fred Weasley. "Grow up Fred and James. Now, don't go too far back because if you get hit you want room to be able to fall back and not fall off the stage. Firstly, you want to be able to defend yourself before you can learn to attack. Brianna will try to stun me and I will defend myself"

There was a murmur once again as Brianna and Roxanne faced each other… the tension was too much for some people who looked as if they would feint if Brianna didn't mount an attack on Roxanne soon. "_Stupefy_!"

"_Protego_!" Brianna's stunning spell was powerful and well-directed but Roxanne managed to get her protective shield up in time for the stunning spell to rebound against it and fly off towards one of the walls. There was sudden chatter and clapping as the audience were left impress. "Now, Protego will only protect you from minor to moderate spells… _Protego Maxima _will suffice for major spells such as the unforgivable curses and dark magic"

"Now we want you all to get into pairs, but not with someone from your own house please. And practice the stunning spell and the shielding spell for ten minutes please then we'll move onto something else" Brianna announced. There was a hurried motion as everyone got into partners (some kicking up a fuss as they didn't want to be a partner with someone from the opposite house).

For the rest of the session Roxanne and Brianna took them all through the basics of Defensive and attacking spells such as _Expelliarmus_, _Petrificus Totalus_ and _Reducto_. James Potter had, much to the annoyance of Brianna, cast all the spells perfectly and was gathering quite a crowd of giggling fifth year Gryffindors. Roxanne gave James a stern look whose face dropped when the look came his way. The last 10 minutes of the duelling session was Brianna and Roxanne taking their houses to one side and talking to them.

"Okay so 3rd years, you need to be able to disarm your opponents at least by next Duelling club which will be two weeks today. I want you to practice whenever you can… I obviously don't expect you to be putting it before school work but if you could have done at least an hours practice that would be great! Fourth and fifth years I want to see _Petrificus Totalus_ and _Reducto_ by the next session. Sixth years and Seventh years I want Levicorpus, Libracorpus and Impedimenta perfected by this time in two weeks. They're all spells you should be able to do now"

"And when are we supposed to fit them in between studying for NEWTs?" Jonah Flint snarled much to the amusement of Parkinson and co. Brianna just rolled her eyes and ignored him. I dismissed them all. "Let's go, surprisingly the Gryffindor was the better teacher"

"Ignore him, Malfoy. I thought you were better than me" Roxanne was packing her bag up when she stopped to talk again. "When did you say you were booking the hall again?"

"Two weeks today, so sort your own Duelling club around that… I've got perfecting duty to be getting on with now. James Potter mustn't be kept waiting" Brianna groaned inwardly. "Not that the bastard will even be on the second floor yet"

**,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,**

_Funnily enough _James was actually sat on a bench on the second floor corridor waiting for her. She hated prefect duty, it was time unnecessarily spent with James Potter which made her agitated whenever they were around each other. As Brianna thought about it, she realised that she had spent more time with James in the first week of school than all six year put together thanks to prefect duty. "You're late, Malfoy"

"Shove off Potter I was speaking with Roxanne about how the duelling club went" Brianna snapped as she stood on the opposite side of the corridor. There was several fourth year Ravenclaws coming towards them. They had a load of Weasley Wizard Wheezes products in their hands. Not all of them were banned but Brianna definitely saw a Fanged Frisbee. "Hey! Fanged Frisbees are banned from school property, hand it over now"

"Oh but I've just been sent it by my uncle for my birthday!" The fourth-year moaned. Brianna just snarled in a menacing manner and the kids abruptly handed it over. "Jeesh, you'd think she was McGonagall by the way she takes Prefect duty seriously. C'mon Lucy, let's go to the library and practice that charm Professor Lupin taught us yesterday"

"As if I care!" Brianna shouted loud enough to scare them. James just rolled his eyes and carried on walking up and down the corridor. Brianna wondered what possessed McGonagall to make James both a Prefect and Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, but unfortunately for her, she mused this thought allowed.

"Just because I like pranks doesn't mean I'm not responsible" He snapped back at her. "You saw me in the Duelling club yourself, I'm good in class, I get good grades… so why not?"

"Because, Potter, you're about as responsible as I am a Gryffindor. I pretty sure I heard you discussing with Fred about Rose's birthday plans; you know the one where you throw a load of first years at a moving target?" Brianna said accusingly. James just rolled his eyes again and continued patrolling. There was a noise coming from a classroom nearby, which meant there were a few students who were not on their way to Lunch. Brianna poked her head against the door and listened intently. There was an unmistakable sound of moaning. "BOMBADA!"

"Whaa?" The doors flew open and inside a surprised Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw pairing were in the middle of a make-out session. One of them flushed extremely red while the other had a huge grin on his face. Brianna demanded for their names. "Josie Abbott, 5th year"

"Jackson Thomas, 5th year" The cocky boy said with a huge grin on his face. All the while this was going on, James was trying his absolute hardest not to laugh.

"Well then; Miss. Abbott, Mr. Thomas, ten points from your respective houses and detention tonight with Professor McGonagall in the great hall. Now please see that the two of you go straight to the Great hall this instance for Lunch"

**_.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,_**

Rose's birthday party.

It was something Brianna had been looking forward to all day long.

Melanie and Brianna had been getting ready in the Slytherin common room straight after dinner and were decked out in smart outfits. Brianna had donned a knee length black leather skirt and black high heeled pumps accompanied with a floaty v-neck vest top that tucked into the skirt. She had decked herself out in jewellery, simple gold earrings and necklace. Melanie was wearing black leggings with a white & black blazer and black shoe boots.

They sneaked out of the common room at 8 'o' clock… the common room still had a few people in but they didn't pay any attention and took a shortcut to the grand staircase and then a shortcut to the seventh floor were they saw a couple of others going into the party so they managed to get in without having to use the password. The portrait of the fat lady was moaning all the while. "Will you hurry up I really need to pay Violet a visit!"

"Sorry" Brianne mumbled.

"Speak up girl and don't be rude… it's not a very ladylike trait to half" The fat lady rabbited on until a seventh year prefect told her to shut it. Then she turned on them and left Brianna alone.

"Ladies" Brianna groaned as she turned to see James Potter was stood, leant up against a pillar. He had skinny jeans on, a loose fitting grey t-shirt and a black hoodie on too. His hair was slicked back into a quiff and he had a butterbeer in one hand. He'd obviously been chatting some girl up because a Ravenclaw who had been invited just tutted and walked off as James was paying no attention to her. Melanie lost her footing next to Brianna as if to suggest James had had an effect on her. Brianna admitted to herself that he was a handsome guy but his attitude was just disgusting and he was that much of a pig Brianna couldn't understand why so many women fall all over him.

"Potter"

"Malfoy"

"Melanie"

"Elliot"

"Oh My Godric"

"Are you two going to stop staring at each other, the eye sex is quite obvious"

Brianna turned around to see Fred with a giant grin on his face, he was eyeing up Melanie and Elliot who had been staring at each other for about a minute. Melanie blushed a deep crimson and Elliot tried to shake it off and act cool. Brianna snickered to herself and whispered to Melanie. "Don't forget to use protection"

Melanie choked on her drink and had to be patted on the back by Elliot who was still trying to play it cool. James offered to get Brianna a drink but she said she'd get it herself because knowing him, he'd put something in it. James just tutted in exasperation and stalked off leaving Brianna at the drinks table all by herself. That was when she decided she was going to go hard. She grabbed a jug of water, chucked the water out of it and started shoving fruity juices into it, cranberry juice, orange juice, some muggle drink called Vodka and a peachy drink she hadn't seen before. She threw in a shot of firewhisky and grabbed a straw. To her surprise it was lovely. She sat down on a free chair and drank half of it before anyone came and bothered her.

"Hello, Brianna" Rose Weasley arrived holding hands with Scorpius. Brianna squinted her eyes as if to survey the pair of them, and came to the conclusion that there was something Scorpius hadn't been telling her. Brianna raised an eyebrow and stared at the couple who were making cute faces at each other. Brianna saw James across the room chatting up some blonde girl, and tried to get his attention but he was too into the girls breasts to care. Brianna continued to drink the jug and it was soon empty. The music was going, the weird sisters. Brianna managed to stand up and get back to the drinks; this was when she saw Melinda again.

"W-whatcha drinking giirlyyyyyy?" Melanie said, her breathe stunk of alcohol. Brianna showed her what she'd been mixing and took her jug back to her seat only to find James and the blonde were now snogging in it.

"Oi, Pot-tt-tt-eeerrrr. Out of my seat!" Brianna managed to slur out, but James didn't even hear here, his mouth was too busy. Brianna stumbled forward in anger and went and sat in her seat anyway, sitting on James lap and leaning on the blonde girl.

"HEY!" James shouted in Brianna's ear.

"Hush, Potter no need to shout… you've been a bad enough boy as it is, taking my seat, shouldn't do it you know" Brianna rambled, all the while the blonde girl had no clue what was going on. She managed to shift out of the seat and wandered off. "Probably off to find a James replacement, yes that's where she went… maybe to get drinks… she didn't seem very friendly"

"That's because you sat on us!" James shouted once again, but was cut off when Brianna biffed him on the nose. "OW! What did you do that for?"

"Bad James, talking too much, just enjoy the evening… you're lucky I didn't hex you into next week!" Brianna took one last sip of her drink before dropping it on the Red carpet of the common room and nodding off rather suddenly while sat on James' knee.

"OH great" He muttered.

**.,.,..,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,**

Thanks for reading! I hope you'll enjoy the next couple of chapters, it's a little bit more of the same with lessons and a few other bits but we've got a bit more competition going on between James and Brianna and in about three chapters time it'll be Halloween! That means the Goblet of Fire will be picking it's champions!

**Shannon x**


	4. Unprovoked

_**Thunder and Lightning.**_

_**Summary: **__Brianna Malfoy was sorted into Slytherin house six years ago. She did fit the qualities it had to be said, she was cunning, intimidating, wise and had and attitude to go along with it. However, she was unlike Slytherin's in so many ways as she had being brought up to learn to love all four houses and try and make friends with everyone. As Brianna enters her sixth year at Hogwarts and is made to be in-charge of the newly opened Duelling-club__**, **__she realises that she has an incredibly amount of work to do the next two years, what with Quidditch training, Prefect duty and her studies, not to mention James S. Potter being a complete imbecile. Will she crumble under the pressure or will she realise her dream of being Head Girl, an international Quidditch player and Mum of 3 children. Only time will tell…_

_**Useful Info:**__ James Sirius Potter is sixth year, born on 12th July; patronus is a Stag (obviously). Albus Severus Potter is a fourth year, born 4th March; Patronus is a Phoenix. Lily Luna Potter is a third year, born 23rdSeptember; Patronus is Horse (like Ginny). Brianna Malfoy is a sixth year, born 30th January; Patronus is a Panther. Scorpius Malfoy is a Fourth Year, born 11th November; Patronus is a Fox. Rose Weasley is a fourth year, born 2nd September; Patronus is an Otter. Hugo Weasley is a second year, born 23rd December; Patronus is a Dog. Roxanne & Fred Weasley are 7th years, born 1st April (same day as Fred & George): Patronus' are both Dragons._

_**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters J.K Rowling so brilliantly created, just the ones I made up in this story.**_

_**.,.,..,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,**_

"I heard she dribbled on his leg" Brianna rolled her eyes as the comments came flooding in.

"Apparently James got… let's say a little turned on by it" Brianna screwed her face up at this comment.

"Do you think they're dating?"

"James wouldn't let a random girl just fall asleep on him"

"This is Potter and Malfoy we're talking about, they hate each other"

"I reckon they're secretly screwing each other on prefect duty"

Brianna dug into her food rather angrily and made stabbing noises to the sausage and bacon on her breakfast plate. There was a circle of about 5 feet around her as people could sense she was in one of her stinking moods. Why had she fallen asleep on Potter? She was never going to live it down that was for sure. She's woken up about half an hour later and had violently attacked Potter because she thought he was attacking her but when she'd managed to calm down he'd explained that she'd fallen asleep. He'd said in a roundabout way '_Brianna you dumb cave troll I wouldn't make a pass at you if you were the last girl in Hogwarts_'. Despite it being a nasty comment to make, it sufficed for Brianna to stop attacking him.

After roughly another 50 odd comments about the events from Rose's birthday party two nights ago, Brianna had decided she'd finally had enough and made her way to Herbology on her own 15 minutes early. People were staring at her and making funny little snide comments. She just blocked them all out and lost her thought in Quidditch.

She was disappointed to say the least that the Quidditch House Cup had been disbanding this year to make way for the Triwizard tournament. Balfor Krum and Eliza Jean-Eric had entered the tournament for Durmstrang and Beauxbatons and were favourites to be pulled out of the hat (Lily Potter and Hugo Weasley had been taking bets since Thursday last week), Jonah Flint was considered to be a favourite up until Potter and Brianna had put their names in and it was decided that Potter being the son of the last Triwizard winner was odds on favourite to get pulled out. But Quidditch was more important. She wanted to be a Quidditch player when she was older and it wasn't helping that the school had cancelled it. She needed to fly. "Brianna!"

"WHAT?" She snapped at whoever was talking to her. It was James. "Oh- what do you want?"

"Nothing I was just coming to Herbology early. Kind of trying to block everyone out" James said coolly. He walked awkwardly next to Brianna as they reached Greenhouse 3. No one was there yet, not even Madam Sprout. She sat down away from him and ignored what he was saying. She got her books out but became distressed when a plant near her stole her textbook.

"Give me my book bag you ugly-ass plant!" She smacked it with her other book causing the plant to spit her textbook out and spit at her. "Urgh, yuck! _Tergeo_!" The spit cleared of herself and her book. James was laughing his head off. "You know you could've made yourself useful and helped me for once"

"Why on earth would I do that?" James said while spluttering with laughter. Brianna just flung a stinging hex at him which missed him by about 2 inches. She opened her textbooks and started jotting down with her quill the lesson objective which had been written on the board. Today was a theory lesson meaning they wouldn't be handling any plants hands on (which was okay with Brianna considering the exchange she'd just had with the red and yellow plant next to her). Professor Longbottom arrived with his book bags and nearly toppled over with shock as he saw both Brianna and James early.

"MY GOODNESS! Whatever are you to doing early?" He said as he reached to the desk for support. James just shrugs his shoulders, Brianna mimicking the movements. Professor Longbottom just sighed. "Fine, well you can both get started then. Mr. Potter, go sit next to her please we're doing pair work"

"Professor I don't think that's the best of ideas-"

"JAMES SIRIUS POTTER DON'T TEST MY PATIENCE TODAY" He snapped, very unlike himself. "It'll be detention if I here another word from you if it's not about the work"

James reluctantly shut up and moved to sit next to Brianna who had to sit closer to the plant that had stolen her book earlier. As she put her ink pot down and quill, the plant went for her parchment. She smacked it with her book again. James muttered a spell under his breath and the plant fell asleep. Brianna just muttered a small 'thanks' before returning to writing the lesson objectives down. The rest of the class filed in eventually and as James suspected they were all staring at him sat next to Brianna and started muttering and tutting. Brianna completely ignored them all and focused on Professor Sprout.

"Properties of Bubotuber pus" She said as she told them to turn to page 432 of their textbook. There was a diagram and labels for them to copy down and a test for them to complete in pairs. The class was chatty as they all argues over which label went where on the diagrams and the answers to the questions were difficult, this meant James and Brianna could talk without people listening to their conversations.

"We've got to do something about these rumours, Malfoy" James said as he labelled the part of the Bubotuber plant which was the stigma. Brianna stopped what she was doing and gave James a quizzical look.

"Well people aren't going to forget anytime soon, dweeb" Brianna was looking up the answer to question 5 of the quiz (_Which witch discovered the beautifying properties of Bubotuber pus and uses it in her beautifying potion range?)_. "No one is even talking about the tri-wizard tournament anymore! It's all 'I bet those two are shagging on prefect duty', I mean yuck!"

"Such kind words to say about me - and the answer is Sarissa Tugwood by the way" He said with a slight smirk on his face which left Brianna grunting in annoyance. "As I was saying I think perhaps we should orchestrate something, to make sure people know we do actually hate each other"

"Or I could just ignore you for the rest of my life and be extremely happy" Brianna said as she finished the quiz. "You've got the labels the wrong way around, the stigma is the long bit, not the tiny bit at the bottom of the flower. Also, the measurement guide is 1 foot, not 1 inch; the plants are a lot bigger than that"

"What about this: Fred and I get you with a prank at the table at dinner time and that's enough for us to start a fight. We risk detention but that way everyone knows we hate each other" Brianna just shrugged her shoulders praying for the end of lesson. And when it finally did come, she got up without a word and went to leave the Herbology greenhouse.

"Not so fast, Miss. Malfoy. I need to speak to you about your Venomous Tentacula essay you did over the summer holidays" The rest of the student piled out of the Greenhouse and made their way to Defence. James was the last the leave. He hesitated for just a second, glancing at Brianna with what was almost a concerned look before he left with everyone else. Brianna thoughts twisted up in her head. _What on earth was that look for?_ She thought over and over again.

"What's the matter with the essay, professor?" Brianna asked, flicking her thoughts on James off like a light switch. "Was it bad? It was wasn't it?"

"No quite the opposite actually. I know you're very good with wand work such as Charm and Defence but I have to say I think you are a natural at Herbology. The only thing wrong with it is you didn't date it. I just wanted to know that I think you should have confidence in your abilities. You're very unlike a lot of Slytherin's you know. Most of them would be huffing and sighing at me by now, but you're always ready to listen"

"I just try to keep my head down and work hard, Sir"

"Work hard you do, but I suspect it's difficult to keep your head down when you have a relationship as testing as the one you have with Mr. Potter. His father and your father never got on either, but both worked hard in their lessons. I think perhaps you should learn from his mistake – try not to let him get to you, Miss. Malfoy"

Brianna couldn't believe what she was hearing, was Professor Longbottom siding with her? It was hard to come by people who sided with her these days. "Err- thanks Professor Longbottom"

"Also – if you get picked in the Tournament, you just come to me for help!" He smiled kindly before dismissing her.

This meant she was free to go to Defence and join her class mates.

_**.,.,..,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,**_

Brianna made it to Defence just in time for everyone to enter the classroom. Melanie was still being grumpy with her about the whole unbreakable vow business despite them enjoying each other's company at Rose's birthday party. James and Fred were doing a firework display by the door and had gathered quite a crowd. Professor Vexen opened the door to the DADA classroom and ended up applauding when they both finished. All the females started to swoon including Melanie it had to be said as Professor Vexen let them in the room.

"Morning class – bags to the side once again please. We're going to be doing the Patronus charm today – anyone able to do one yet?" Three people put their hands up. James, Fred and Roxanne. "Do they take a form or is it just silvery wisps?"

"Mine takes the form of a stag" James said as everyone finished putting their bags away and were all standing in a circle. "I've been able to cast it since I was thirteen"

There was a large audible gasp from everyone in the room – the largest from Amelia Goyle, who was clearly impressed. The other Slytherin's looked like they couldn't give less of a crap. "Roxanne and I have been able to do one for a year now – Our Patronus takes the form of a Dragon"

"Well that is mightily impressive James – age 13! I don't think I know anyone who could do a patronus at that age!" Professor Vexen was clearly impressed; Brianna on the other hand scoffed. She was fed up of Potter being better than her at everything in Defence, although she'd never admit that. Potter always got top marks in their essays – especially last week after handing in her essay on the Reducto spell she'd used on the mechanical human Professor Vexen bought in. It was only supposed to be 6 inches long but she'd gone to at least 12; an achievement she was proud of. The smile was soon wiped off her face when she saw potter hand in a two foot essay on the Levicorpus spell he'd used.

"Professor – at what age could you do a fully corpeal Patronus?" Melanie asked as Brianna was left to her thoughts.

"Around the age of 16 I think. I was taught by the finest Patronus caster available – James' dad. Two years after the Battle of Hogwarts as part of his Auror training, Harry came in and gave a few Defence classes to the NEWT students. I've never seen such a good Patronus!"

"Dad was 13 when he learnt how to cast it" James said non-chalantly. "He was taught by Professor Lupin's father"

"Theodore's father? Well that makes sense now! He was a very gifted wizard; I believe he taught here too. Highest DADA marks for a decade the year he taught – but enough chatter! It's time to get to work. Now before we do the Patronus charm I have your essays from last week marked and ready to hand you" There was a mutter of excitement and groans all at the same time as Professor Vexen pulled out his wand and made everyone's essays appear in front of them. He handed them out as everyone was desperate to see what grade they'd got. "I must say I was very impressed – no one got below a high acceptable which is fantastic!"

"I got 81/100, an Exceeds Expectations!" Melanie said rather excitedly to Amelia Goyle who in turn had gotten roughly the same mark. Brianna peered at her essay to find a mark. At the bottom there was a note 'Fantastic work, Miss Malfoy – 93/100 – Outstanding!'. Brianna felt her cheeks flush. She was incredibly happy with that. "What did you get, Brianna?"

"A 93, Outstanding" She said. Melanie's mouth dropped to the floor. Brianna's ears picked up Potter and Fred Weasley talking. Fred had gotten an 87 from what she could gather, but she didn't hear what James said.

"Well now you've all got your marks, those who got 90% or more receive ten house points – in fact, everyone can have ten house points! I'm in a good mood after those essays. Now let's concentrate on the Patronus charm – who can tell me what the patronus charm can be used for?"

A few people's hand shot up, but Professor Vexen picked Brianne. "A patronus charm can be used to ward off Dementors. Casting the Patronus charm creates a type of shield, meaning the Dementors feed of it rather than the person"

"Excellent – take another 10 points for Slytherin!" Brianna just gave a small smile. "Anyone else know what it can be used for? Ah yes – Mr. Potter"

"A Patronus charm can be used to send messages to people – only short messages, they're usually used for warnings or secret messages" James said. Brianna gave him the stink eye and rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Again, excellent – 10 points to Gryffindor!"

The rest of the lessons went by in a flash. Everyone had had a go at casting a patronus but no one but Fred, James and Roxanne. Brianna had creates a few silvery wisps but nothing too substantial to bother Professor Vexen with. Brianna mood had gone from fowl to worse as Potter's stag had ran around the room and perched itself right next to her. She sent death glares over to him as he smugly gave her a lopsided grin in return.

She, Melanie and Amelia made their way to the Slytherin table for lunch after defence, happy to get the embarrassment of the failed Patronus out of her mind. James and Fred walked right behind them all the way down there. "I thought our Patronus was pretty good actually – I've never been able to control my stag that way before"

"I know what you mean. Mine and Roxy's Dragons hadn't perched on anything yet – and there they both were, sitting happily on the chandeliers!" Fred exclaimed in animation. Brianna felt her blood boil but managed to control herself and get to the Slytherin table before hexing them both. Brianna took a slice of toast and piled some ham and tomato on top with a little sprinkling of Parmesan cheese on top. As she enjoyed her lunch she heard Fred and James prating around. "Hey Malfoy!"

Brianna regretted turning around because as she did, she was hit in the face with a spell which burned like mad. She screamed in pain as her face became swollen. "You idiots! That's a stinging hex!" Brianna leapt across the aisle and stuck her hand around James neck, falling to the floor as she did. There was a shout of 'fight' and sooner than later the whole hall was chanting that. James was scratching at Brianna's face while her vision became better as the swelling reduced. "You brat – I'm gonna kill you!"

"WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON?" Professor Longbottom had appeared and had separated the crowd. Melanie and Amelia had managed to claw Brianna away as calmed down, her face aching more and more. "What is the meaning of the stinging hex on Miss Malfoy?"

"Ask Potter!" Melanie said in a voice which showed her irritation. "Completely unprovoked attack on Brianna! We're we sat eating lunch and they just cast it at her!"

"To be fair – she did retaliate; look at the bruising on James jaw!" Roxanne tried to stick up for them both but it was no use, Professor Longbottom had made his mind up.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley – 50 points from Gryffindor for an unprovoked attack on a student – I will be writing to your families!" He said. There was a large grown from the whole Weasley family. "Miss. Bellingham – can you please escort Miss Malfoy to the hospital wing? I don't like the look of that swelling under her eye"

"Yes sir" Melanie picked up both their school bags and left for the hospital wing with Brianna.

_**.,.,..,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,**_

"_JAMES SIRIUS POTTER! HOW DARE YOU ATTACK THAT GIRL UNPROVOKED?_" That was the sound that filled the hall the following day. A dull and grey Tuesday in the middle of September was lightened up by the shrill voice of Mrs. Potter. "_I AM DISGUSTED IN YOUR BEHAVIOUR_!"

"Goodness me" Melanie muttered as she shoved a sausage in her mouth. Brianna caught the look of James face which was one of a stunned owl. "Good on her, what a vile thing it was he did. You'd never do that to him"

"-_WHILE I DON'T AGREE WITH SOME OF YOURS AND FRED'S PRANKS THIS IS A STEP TOO FAR! HOW DARE YOU USE A STINGING HEX ON THAT POOR MALFOY GIRL! I DON'T CARE IF YOU FEEL SHE DESERVED IT-_"

"Do you think the howler will end?" Amelia sniggered a she eats a piece of toast. Jonah Flint and his buddies were laughing their heads off as the colour leaves James face. "I take it back, I don't want the Howler to end"

"-_YOU ARE A PREFECT JAMES POTTER, AND SHE IS NO LESS THAN YOUR PREFECT PARTNER – AND WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING ENTERING THE TRI-WIZARD TOURNAMENT? HAS YOU DAD NOT WARNED YOU ENOUGH ABOUT HOW DIFFICULT IT WAS? NEVER IN MY 42 YEARS_-"

"And so she continues" Melanie laughed. Fred was beside himself laughing as James' face was almost the shade of Nearly Headless Nick.

"-_YOUR FATHER IS CURRENTLY AT WORK BUT JUST YOUR WAIT UNTIL HE HEARS ABOUT YOU HEXING GIRLS! YOU WILL BE IN SUCH TROUBLE! OH AND FRED WEASLEY YOUR MOTHER IS SENDING A HOWLER TO YOU TOO – SHE IS 7 MONTHS PREGNANT AND DOES NOT NEED THIS FROM YOU_!"

There was a silence which fell over the hall as the howler ripped itself up. Everyone had gone completely quite before there was a loud yell from Jonah Flint. "Look at his face – Potter had a howler! What a loser!" Everyone else was laughing, that was until another Owl swooped into the hall and landed by Fred and James. The envelope was red. It opened at the mouth and start shouting.

"_JAMES SIRIUS POTTER! HOW DARE YOU HEX THAT MALFOY GIRL! AND UUNPROVOKED! I JUST GOT A LETTER FORM YOUR MOTHER WHILE AT WORK AND I HAD TO TAKE THE REST OF THE DAY OFF! I AM SO MAD RIGHT NOW – YOU WAIT UNTIL I SEE YOU AT CHRISTMAS!"_

It was safe to say Harry James Potter wasn't too pleased with son.

_**.,.,..,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,**_

Hey guys thanks for reading this story! I hope you're enjoying it so far! It's just boiling at the right temp at the moment.

**Shannon x**


	5. Mystery

_**Thunder and Lightning.**_

_**Summary: **__Brianna Malfoy was sorted into Slytherin house six years ago. She did fit the qualities it had to be said, she was cunning, intimidating, wise and had and attitude to go along with it. However, she was unlike Slytherin's in so many ways as she had being brought up to learn to love all four houses and try and make friends with everyone. As Brianna enters her sixth year at Hogwarts and is made to be in-charge of the newly opened Duelling-club__**, **__she realises that she has an incredibly amount of work to do the next two years, what with Quidditch training, Prefect duty and her studies, not to mention James S. Potter being a complete imbecile. Will she crumble under the pressure or will she realise her dream of being Head Girl, an international Quidditch player and Mum of 3 children. Only time will tell…_

_**Useful Info:**__ James Sirius Potter is sixth year, born on 12th July; patronus is a Stag (obviously). Albus Severus Potter is a fourth year, born 4th March; Patronus is a Phoenix. Lily Luna Potter is a third year, born 23rdSeptember; Patronus is Horse (like Ginny). Brianna Malfoy is a sixth year, born 30th January; Patronus is a Panther. Scorpius Malfoy is a Fourth Year, born 11th November; Patronus is a Fox. Rose Weasley is a fourth year, born 2nd September; Patronus is an Otter. Hugo Weasley is a second year, born 23rd December; Patronus is a Dog. Roxanne & Fred Weasley are 7th years, born 1st April (same day as Fred & George): Patronus' are both Dragons._

_**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters J.K Rowling so brilliantly created, just the ones I made up in this story.**_

_**.,.,..,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,**_

The following Friday saw Brianna and James late for prefect duty outside the Quidditch pitch. Brianna wasn't talking to James still after the stinging hex incident, despite the number of times he'd tried to tell her it was actually Fred who'd flung the hex and not him. Brianna didn't believe him purely because Madam Pomfrey had said she'd looked like she'd hit by several stunning spells at once. Fred had received a howler of even greater significance than the ones Mr. and Mrs. Potter had sent James. It lasted for approximately 20 minutes and afterwards, Fred hadn't been the same.

Lily Potter and Hugo Weasley were still taking in bets on who'd get picked as champions; Balfor Krum was now the red hot favourite as he'd apparently tried to put his name in more than once. He had inherited some of his uncle's looks and was always followed by a group of giggling girls. Rose Weasley had been asked out by no less than 7 Durmstrang boys and each one had infuriated Scorpius even more. Elliot Longbottom knew how he felt; they'd been lining up to ask Melanie out too (who had also been getting glares from the Beauxbatons girls – they knew she was part Veela).

Brianna was sick to the sight of the blue dresses of the Veela women and the furry hats of the Durmstrang School. She was so behind on her work she'd taken to doing some of it on prefect duty. As they patrolled the gate to the Quidditch pitch she was determined more than ever to get some form of patronus going. James was nearly keeling over in laughter at her feeble attempts. Brianna was maddened with him. "Quit laughing! Not all of us are blessed with your DADA talents!"

"Was that- was that nearly a compliment?" James asked in surprise as Brianna gave up and resorted to sitting on the wall outside the Quidditch pitch.

"Not really – everyone knows you're good at it. It's a pain in the arse for me that you're better than me in a subject but at least I beat you in Charms" She smirked the famous Malfoy smirk. She enjoyed beating James in Charms – it was probably his weakest subject.

"Let me help you then" he said, unfazed by the Charms comment.

"I don't need your help with DADA! I just need to study harder!" She snapped back. "That's all I need to do!"

"If you study any harder you'll actually turn into a book! Look, I'm not on about all DADA stuff; you're duelling captain after all! You've very good at DADA. What did you get on your Reducto essay?" he asked politely.

"A 93" She replied a little stunned. "Outstanding"

"That's the second highest in the class then… I thought it was Roxanne; she got a 91" James mused before a small silence broke out. Brianna mused this over. She wondered what James got in his essay. As she mused this aloud, he answered for her. "I got 96"

"I would've thought you'd have got 100" Brianna said, almost teasing.

"It was my spelling, I'm terrible at it" He laughed again. He continued walking up and down and looking out for students. It was only 8:15. Another three hours before they could head back to the castle. "So… is it just the Patronus charm you're struggling with?"

"Yes, it's driving me crazy – even Melanie and Amelia have made ones. It wasn't as good as you or Fred and Roxanne though, you could only tell what the animal was, it wasn't doing characteristic things like yours was. I haven't even got more than a few wisps" Brianna muttered _Expecto Patronum_ again, but nothing happened. She sighed in frustration.

"You're flourishing your wand too much" James came and stood behind her, her back practically leaning against his chest. "Now your memory needs to be powerful – and nothing silly like the first time you rode a broom either!" Brianna huffed – that had been her memory. She closed her eyes and breathed in her surroundings. She could smell sandalwood and vanilla, heathers and mint. She wondered where that smell was coming from, it wasn't there before. Whatever it was smelt delicious. Concentrating on her Patronus, she remembered the day she got her Hogwarts letter – and instantly she could feel herself fill up with glee. "Now a side-on stance is best"

"Like this?" Brianna stood sideways, her left elbow now rubbing against James stomach. James put his hands on her elbow, guiding her into position.

"Relax a little more- this isn't an owl exam. Keep your shoulders nice and low, let the memory fill you up…" Brianna was still a little tense. James put his hands on her hips, moving them to a comfier stance. He bent his mouth down to her ear. "1…2…3"

"Expecto Patronum!" There was a silence for a few seconds before a large silver eruption left the end of Brianna's willow, 12 inch, unicorn hair wand. It swirled around in pattern before forming a rather large animal. It roared into life, prowling around the pair of them for a few paces. Brianna was left stunned. "Wha-what is it?"

"Is- Is it a Panther?" James asked as the animal sped up to a run, circulating not only the pair of them but the Quidditch pitch entrance too. Brianna was so stunned she dropped her wand and the panther disappeared. "I told you"

"You're still an arse, but thanks" Brianna said as she picked up her wand and resumed duty. They were silent for an hour – the odd question being asked. James also admitted that both James and Fred had thrown the stinging hex at her. Brianna had mentioned that it had taken the swelling under her eye days to go down, because she was allergic to the antidote for it. Brianna had been using a concealment charm to hide the swelling, so people didn't notice the raised skin.

When it turned half nine, they had moved the patrol from outside the ground to inside it for 10 minutes, making sure there wasn't anyone lurking about when they shouldn't be. They pushed the gate open and had a look around – nothing. James glanced at the moon; it was bright and would be full in two days' time. It was then he spotted someone, up in the air on a broom. He dragged Brianna behind a bench where they could see them without being spotted.

Brianna noticed the figure was wearing blue, the moonlight was reflecting onto them. Brianna turned to James and whispered 'Beauxbatons' to him. He nodded. "She's flying; do we leave her or make sure she goes back inside?"

"Don't be such an idiot, Potter! We make sure she goes b-" There was a flash of light from outside the ground which streaked up to the sky and hit the Beauxbatons girl. Brianna and James leapt up instantly as the girl started falling to the ground. Brianna pointed her wand at her tumbling body. "_Aresto Momentum_!" The girl slowed down astronomically and hit the ground with a light thud. "James, go outside and find where that spell come from! Now! I'll get the girl and take her inside"

"You got it!" James ran to the Quidditch pitch gate.

Brianna ran across the pitch, wand in hand encase anything jumped out or attacked her. When she got to the girl, she was moaning and groaning. Lighting her wand up, she saw who it was. "Eliza? It's alright I'm going to levitate you to the hospital wing!"

"Pain…" The girl replied. It was Eliza Jean-Eric, one of the girls from Beauxbatons who'd put her name into the Goblet of Fire. Brianna levitated her body and started moving her out of the Quidditch pitch grounds. When she reached outside, she saw James looking around at the ground and inspecting the area. James had found nothing and therefore gave up. He took over, carrying the Beauxbatons girl in his arms. Making their way back to near Hagrid's hut, they found a small drinking pouch. Brianna picked it up and inspected it while walking back to the castle.

"Firewhisky" Brianna said. James scrunched his face up in confusion. They reached the clock tower at last and made their way to the Hospital wing from there. Brianna opened the door and they both burst in. Madam Pomfrey was seeing to one of the patients who had been admitted earlier that day. "Madam Pomfrey!"

"Dear heavens, whatever has happened?" Just as she spoke, Professor McGonagall entered with a stern look. Brianna had a chill go down her spine; she didn't like McGonagall when she had this look. "Minerva, thank goodness. These two have arrived with a Beauxbatons lady"

"Explain yourselves!" McGonagall shrilled. Both Brianna and James recounted what they'd seen with the flash of light and the drinking pouch they'd found near the stone circle at Hagrid's hut. "What colour was the spell?"

"It looked a lot like Stupefy to me, Professor" James said as Madam Pomfrey put the girl on a bed. McGonagall's eyes narrowed as she inspected the drinking pouch Brianna had passed over. "She was hundreds of feet up in the air – someone obviously wanted her injured. But why would they?"

"I'm afraid that is an answer we don't have yet. You're both dismissed – oh and Potter, please tell your sister Lily and cousin Hugo that it is erroneous for them to be taking bets" she said with a wry smile. Madam Pomfrey had finished assessing Eliza. "Will she be okay, Madam Pomfrey?"

"Oh yes – I'll keep her in for a few days. She's just in shock and she's got a little…" the last part was incoherent to them both as they wandered out of the Hospital wing, said goodbye and went back to their common rooms.

_**.,.,..,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,**_

"You're back from prefect duty early?" Amelia Goyle said as Brianna entered the dormitory. She was sat reading a book on the bed, Dorothy Parkinson was passed out on her bed with a black drawn on moustache and beard. Melanie was obviously not back from her rounds yet; she was patrolling the seventh floor. "Did Potter make another pass at you?"

"No… we witnessed a girl being attack" Brianna said as she plonked herself onto the bed. Amelia closed her copy of Hogwarts: A History, interested in what Brianna had said. She clapped in excitement, earning her a glare from Brianna. "The girl from Beauxbatons"

"Eliza Jean-Eric?" Amelia asked. Brianna nodded. "Probably deserved it to be fair, I've seen her charm work… utter rubbish"

"Well she's a decent flier; she was flying around the Quidditch pitch. James and I were about to tell her she was out after curfew but she was hit with a stunning spell. Fell 100 feet from her broom" Brianna said as she changed into pyjamas. "I was able to use _Aresto momentum_ to slow her fall right down, but she's in a lot of shock"

"Did you see who it was who stunned her?" Amelia asked. She started jotting things down with a quick notes quill. Brianna raised an eyebrow and asked what on earth she was doing. "Well this could be the start of an adventure! You know James' dad along with those two sidekicks of his-" ('you mean Ron and Hermione') "-they were always investigating this sort of stuff. The philosopher's stone, the chamber of secrets-"

"Do you think we'd get special services to the school or something?" Brianna snorted, trying and failing badly to cover up her laugh.

"I just think it's time Slytherin got a little recognition in being heroes instead of the bad guy" Amelia said. She dipped the quill in her inkpot and carried on. "So did you see who it was that had stunned her or not?"

"No we didn't. The spell came from the outside of the Quidditch ground while we were inside. By the time James had got out the perpetrator had got away" Brianna said as Amelia wrote these notes down furiously. Josephine Zabini came into the dorm then, took one look at Dorothy and laughed before sitting on her bed.

"What's going on?" She asked curiously. Amelia was practically shaking with excitement. She was so excited; Brianna hadn't seen her happy since someone singed Dorothy's hair off in potions last year. "What's got into you?"

"We've got a mystery on our hands!" She said and went back to writing her notes. Melanie followed then and asked pretty much the same question. Brianna recounted the tale of the attack on Eliza Jean-Eric to them both, they listened with deep interest. "See – we're going to solve this and make Slytherin's the hero's for once. Are you two in to do a bit of snooping around?"

"Count me in" Josephine whispered enthusiastically. "We need to write up a list of things to do. Did Madam Pomfrey say when Eliza will be released from the wing?"

"She'll be there for a couple of days she reckons" Brianna said again.

"Well we'll need to ask her a few questions first of, find out if she saw anything before she was hit. Two of us tomorrow will go down to the Quidditch Pitch and have a look round to see if we can spot anything else, you say James couldn't see anything?" When Brianna shook her head in reply Josephine mused a little while before talking again. "Dark out, he probably wasn't going to see much. Did you find anything at all down there?"

"Near Hagrid's hut we found a small pouch, a drinking one. It had firewhisky in it for certain" Brianna said recounting that bit of the story.

"Could just be Hagrid's?" Melanie said.

"No it was far too small to be Hagrid's" Brianna dismissed.

"That settles things then – we need to find out who the drinking pouch belongs to, keep your eyes and ears open for any dodgy behaviour from not just the Hogwarts's student but the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons lot too. Melanie and Brianna, keep an eye open on prefect duty. But don't let on to the teacher's what we're doing! I'd hate to see the look on McGonagall's face if she thought we were putting enough time into our OWLs"

There was a shudder from the other three girls listening. They said goodnight and the four girls went to sleep then, Brianna was dreaming of the smells she'd smelt of prefect duty. Especially the sandalwood.

She just couldn't figure out where it was from.

_**.,.,..,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,**_

The following morning the whole school was informed of the attack on Eliza and everyone was on edge and more cautious wherever they went. Jeremy Smith nearly stunned Elliot after he tripped and landed on him. Jeremy thought he was being attacked by Elliot; they've both been ignoring each other since. Professor Vexen now had to watch his step as there was a group of around 7 or 8 girls who followed him everywhere (they were mainly Hufflepuff fourth years); Brianna had found him hiding in the broom cupboard. Professor McGonagall was on fantastic form in Transfiguration; she'd given Jonah Flint and Janet Belby detentions for bad mouthing a Gryffindor. She'd been under extreme stress since the attack and had the ministry breathing down the neck because of it.

"Today is the first Hogsmede trip" She said at the breakfast of the first weekend in October. "If you have your permission forms, please put them in the box here on the staff table. I don't want any foolish behaviour from my Hogwarts students – you must set an example to our guests!"

"You hear that, Malfoy? No foolish behaviour! That means no flashing the owner of the Hog's head" Jonah flint snarled as he succumbs to laughter with his mates.

"For Merlin's sake that was one time!" Brianna grunts in reply.

"Also, prefects – you have a meeting with the Head boy and girl tonight at 8 in trophy room please. Enjoy breakfast!" McGonagall sat down and helped herself to some toast with jam. Theodore Lupin's hair was turning from Pink to purple and back as he eyed up a plate full of pancakes.

"We should really make a chart for Professor Lupin – a hair colour chart!" Brianna says as she herself scoffs some pancakes. "Pink is obviously excited"

"Aqua is when he's just normal and teaching students – I've only ever seen it those two colours before" Melanie replied. "I think it's quite cool that he can do that to be honest. Metamorphmagus are just cool people"

"I'm going to be honest I'm enjoying charms a lot more with him instead of Professor Flitwick. There's only so many times you can laugh at a man of his height falling of his pile of books without it just being cruel" Amelia snickers as she munches on some bacon.

"Have you done your essay on the Aguamenti charm yet?" Brianna asked as she checked her homework to do list. She'd ticked off her charms, defence and Potions homework. She still had Ancient runes and transfiguration left to do.

"Yeah I've done mine – 1ft long. It's all I could manage" Melanie moaned. "When's the transfiguration homework in for?"

"Wednesday, isn't it?" Brianna replies.

"No… Monday" Amelia corrects her.

"WHAT?" Brianna said in complete shock. She'd made a mistake – a huge mistake. "You mean Professor McGonagall's 2ft essay on the origins of switching spells and how they can us in modern day life is in for MONDAY?"

"Yeah – we don't have her Wednesday. We have double potions, Care of Magical creatures and Astronomy" Melanie says looking at her diary. "Oh and we have our first apparation lesson aswell. So, who's going to Hogsmede then?"

"Not me" Brianna said, shoving the last mouthful of pancake and grabbed her bag. Melanie and Amelia just moan as she bumbles about. "I've got a 2ft essay to do in two days! I can't be going to Hogsmede"

"Ladies" Josephine appeared then. "What are we all going made over?"

"Brianna's having a breakdown – she's not started Professor McGonagall's transfiguration essay yet" The other two snickered at Brianna as she dropped her book bag trying to get out of her seat. "Do you want anything from Hogsmede?"

"I'll have a liquorice wand thanks!" And with that Brianna ran to the Library to start a long day's work.

_**.,.,..,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,**_

_Thanks to all those who've ready this story – I'm enjoying writing it so far. The next two chapters are big ones, I'll say no more than that. _

_**Shannon x**_


End file.
